G’Day World #328 – Stephen Mayne
Posted on 20. Jun, 2008 by Cameron in Australian media, Australian politics, entrepreneurialism, Podcast
Today I got to chat with another person I admire – Stephen Mayne. As I’m sure most of you will know, Stephen is the founder of Crikey.com.au. These days he is also running a video podcast “The Mayne Report” where he takes his video crew into Annual General Meetings for some of Australia’s largest companies and asks the questions other finance journalists are too scared to ask. He is also a co-founder of Kwoff.com, an Aussie news aggregation service.
Stephen has been using his media properties for the last decade to fight corruption and incompetence in Australian politics and corporations. He has fought the good fight AND became a millionaire when he sold Crikey a few years ago. So he’s living proof that you can focus on making a positive difference and also make some money along the way.
Today I capture some of that background, dig into the roots of his activism, discover how big business uses fake defamation lawsuits to pay kickbacks to friendly politicians, and learn about Stephen’s plans for his shareholder activism network.
And if you’re wondering who Patricia Piccinini is, check out these examples of her work!
And is it just me, or does Stephen carry a very striking similarity to the famous portrait of Joshua Smith by William Dobell?
The G’Day World theme music:
Conquest
“Secrets of Life” (mp3)
from “End of Days”
(Dark Star Records)
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A clarion call for digital media entrepreneurs
Posted on 12. Jun, 2008 by Cameron in entrepreneurialism, media 2.0
Paul Ryan asked me to write a story for the June/July issue of Anthill about digital media and entrepreneurship. I ended up writing something about how it seems to me that digital media entrepreneurs require a higher code of ethics, a higher vision, than your run-of-the-mill online entrepreneurs. Click on the image below to read the full article.
Aussie Startups in Aust Financial Review
Posted on 03. Jun, 2008 by Cameron in Australian media, entrepreneurialism
Renai LeMay did a story on Aussie start-ups in today’s AFR. But, of course, I can’t link to it online, because the zombies running the Fin still have it locked up tighter that a fish’s asshole. Memo to Fairfax – it’s 2008! HELLO?
Anyhoo, the article is also up on MIS Magazine’s website and you can read it here. I love that MIS Magazine is still called MIS, which apparently comes from the latin malum in se “wrong in itself”. So true, so true.
It’s called ‘Funds drought hurts web hopes” and is basically saying that most if not all Aussie online startups are hurting from lack of funding. I kind of agree and kind of disagree.
Look – sure – if we all had a few million, I’m sure we’d be doing things differently. We could hire more people, invest in better infrastructure, hire some sales people, etc.
However, I’m not sure a lack of funding is necessarily a bad thing.
I’m sure we can all rattle off a bunch of start-ups in the US which raised a bucket load of money, only to be gone a few years later. Why? Because you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. Bootstrapping a startup, with little funds or people, forces you to work on the basics. What service do we provide? Who do we provide it to? What problem are we solving? How do we make money from solving it?
The benchmark that we seem to give to online startups is, I think, unhealthy. Unless they have a constant growth curve that looks like the Mt Everest, and are raking in the cash, we think EPIC FAIL.
However, I look at it a completely different way. I’m trying to build something that I will still be running in 20 years time. Something that can make a difference. Something I can have fun with. Something that will let me do what I want, when I want, where I want with whomever I want.
So check it – I haven’t had a job for nearly four years. I sit at home, playing on my Macbook Pro, talking to cool people around the world and getting paid to do it. I take my kids to school, pick them up, hang out with friends whenever I want – and I have fun doing it. I have zero stress in my life. Sure – I could easily spend a coupla mill. But at the end of the day, when I compare how I’m living today, to how I was living four years ago, I know which I prefer.
So how should we define success for a start-up? Is it a business with a billion dollar market cap, or a business that is doing good work, or a business which is allowing someone to follow their dream or a business which is making ends meet? Or perhaps its all of these things?
Here’s the thing about reading mainstream media – and I say this with all respect to my friends who work as journalists, editors and the like – the MSM does NOT want you to leave your work and build a start-up. They want you to conform – to sit in your little cubicle and live the Aussie dream, working 80 hours a week for the man, not thinking outside the square, not taking any risks outside of your footy tipping, just being a good obedient consumer and doing what you’re told.
G’Day World #318 – Bill Liao
Posted on 11. Mar, 2008 by Cameron in Australian media, entrepreneurialism, motivation, Podcast, social activism, social responsibility, success
Bill Liao is one of those guys I just love to talk to. He’s smart, successful, humble, visionary – and nice to boot. Just who the hell does he think he is?
Apart from being a successful serial entrepreneur and a co-founder of Xing.com (a massive social networking site based in Europe), Bill is also driving an amazing project called Declare! where he’s encouraging everyone to make a “Declaration of Global Citizenship”. I spoke to Bill earlier today about his background, his motivation, his vision for the human race and what we’d all do if we’re ever taken over by lizard aliens from another planet. Strap yourselves in kids – this show is pretty awesome.
The music track today is:
310
“Fortuitous Bounce” (mp3)
from “Sixes and Sevens”
(Conduit Records)
Buy at Amazon
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